


Love That Doesn't Need Words

by Samking



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: F/M, Fluff, mentions of torture, post fire across the galaxy, prompt from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-02-27
Packaged: 2018-03-15 13:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3448673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samking/pseuds/Samking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somethings in life just were, they didn’t have labels, or explanations, they were just understood. The mission came first, they both knew that, they both expected it out of the other. Things also just happened, relationships develop, you start caring for the other person a bit too much.<br/>Kanan muses on life with Hera after being rescued from Tarkin and Mustafar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love That Doesn't Need Words

_I love you_. Kanan traced the words with his fingers on to Hera’s back. Her sleep shirt had ridden up, exposing plenty of light green back for him to write messages on. Messages she wouldn’t know about because she was already asleep. They didn’t normally sleep in the same bunk, too many questions would arise, too many demands for explanations they didn’t have. Somethings in life just were, they didn’t have labels, or explanations, they were just understood. The mission came first, they both knew that, they both expected it out of the other. Things also happened, relationships developed, you start caring for the other person a bit too much. They had an understanding though, no matter what the mission came first and everything else came second. He understood it, being a Jedi was all about having to make sacrifices, there were things greater in the galaxy then him. He just hadn’t wanted to be alone tonight, afraid of what his dreams would have in store for him, at least with Hera beside him he would have someone to wake him up when he began to scream. He was glad to be back, to be home. To hear Ezra and Zeb fighting in their shared cabin over something ridiculous, back to Chopper’s seeming indifference. He knew better the droid had missed him, Ezra might have mentioned a certain incident when the droid had entered his cabin looking for him, or refused to leave an AT-DP because they were searching for him. Sabine had even hugged him earlier today, quietly asking him never to put them all through that again. He was glad they were all okay, their rescue of him had been rather close, he pushed images of Ezra falling off the catwalk on the star destroyer away. They were okay, they were here with him, he hadn’t failed them.

He rolled over, trying to follow Hera’s example and sleep as well. Tomorrow would be a long day they would have to get back into their routines again. He would go back to training Ezra, and helping those that the Empire had persecuted. Tomorrow he and Hera would go back to normal, dancing their dance they had danced all these years, until another night could be stolen away, a night like this one. Maybe one day, when the Empire was overthrown and a Republic restored to the galaxy they could spend the rest of their life together, not worrying about the bigger mission. If they made it that long, there was no security in this line of work that you’d live long enough to see the next day, these past few weeks had proven that.

He shifted back on his side, and lightly traced _I love you_ back onto Hera’s skin. They’d never actually said those words to each other. They didn’t need to, somethings didn’t need to be verbalized to make them true. He’d thought so much about her during his torture. The Inquisitor had at first fed him visions of turning Ezra to the dark side at first, he’d known about their relationship, known how much Ezra turning to the dark side would hurt him. He was relieved that the Inquisitor had never found out about his relationship with Hera, relieved that he hadn’t been tortured with visions of her death, or her own torture. Not on her own at least. At times the Inquisitor would feed him visions of the rest of the crew being tortured, but he knew, he knew they all couldn’t have been captured. He still wouldn’t have told them anything, even if the had shown Hera on her own, but sleep tonight might not be coming so easily.

When they had started asking him questions about the rebellion, he had never been more glad he’d told Hera to leave him behind. He, unlike her, had training in resisting torture, had something to focus on besides the pain they would continuously shoot through his body and he also knew nothing beyond what she told him about it, which was nothing. It was for this very reason that he knew nothing, there had been nothing he could have told them, all he knew was her contact’s name, someone named Fulcrum. That wasn’t even a real name. He wondered idly if Hera even knew her contact’s true name. It was a funny thing when you were a rebel, you trusted no one, and yet had to trust everyone at the same time. It was dangerous work, you could be betrayed at anytime, but in the end he knew it would be rewarding. The Empire would fall, he might not live to see it happen, but he would be happy dying knowing that someday it would fall.

His fingers moved of their own accord _I love you_ was written once more. He wanted her to know that he loved her, that he would be tortured a hundred times over if only to protect her. A dangerous sentiment in their line of work, but no less true. He wished that she’d fallen asleep facing him, at least then he would be able to hear her heart beat if he pulled her close to him, he wouldn’t be able to write his declarations of love on her though, her stomach was far more sensitive than her back. One of her lekkus twitched as he wrote out the declaration one last time. Then he leaned over her gently to press a kiss to her cheek before he rolled onto his back, feeling sleep finally deciding to overcome him.

Just as he was about to drift off, thinking about the quietness of the Ghost, and how it was very different from all the noises on the star destroyer he’d been on these past weeks, he felt a gentle hand touch his chest. “Hera,” he murmured, feeling one of her lekkus brush across his face as she pulled him closer to her. “Thought you were ‘sleep.”  

“Shh.” she whispered, putting a finger to his lips. They weren’t soft, hardly anything about Hera was soft, she’d seen too much, they’d seen too much for softness. “I love you too.” Oh. She had been awake for that then, he was too tired to blush, but he was sure that his cheeks would have tinged slightly pink if he hadn’t been. He pushed his own arms out from underneath her so that he could wrap them around her. Her lips pressed gently against his briefly.

He opened his eyes briefly to look at her, but couldn’t keep them open for long. “Hera.” he whispered as he allowed sleep to finally overcome him. He felt content to know that she would be there, beside him. He was safe, his family was safe. He hadn’t failed them. But more then that, he knew he was loved. Hera hadn’t needed to tell him what he already knew, but it had a wonderful feeling to hear her say it. She might not ever say it again, she didn’t need to. There were some kinds of love that didn’t need words.

**Author's Note:**

> Small little drabble I wrote off of a prompt I saw on tumblr placed by otpprompts. I saw it and immediately thought of Hera and Kanan. Can't wait for Fire Across the Galaxy on Monday. Thank you so much for reading.


End file.
